What’s stopping Marylanders from buying or selling their homes right now

It’s not just you: Marylanders at every age and every stage can’t seem to navigate this housing market.

The economy has moved away from the ideal sellers’ market of 2021-22, when remarkably low interest rates incited competition over limited inventory. Persistently low supply, tariffs that boosted construction costs, labor shortfalls and climbing interest rates have cooled the homebuying frenzy.

Now Maryland residents are feeling squeezed by a market that’s straining them on all sides. Increased costs for home repairs, homeowners association fees, insurance and utility bills have made buyers and sellers warier — and buyers able to afford less. And the Federal Reserve’s interest rate hike this week means it won’t be easier to afford a home anytime soon.

“It’s just expensive to be alive right now,” said Karyl Leggio, professor of finance at Loyola University Maryland’s Sellinger School of Business and Management. “Housing is one cost in the overall pot.”

With monthly expenses trending up for households across the income spectrum — including people who have paid off their mortgages — Leggio said there is naturally less desire to make a pricey move.

The slowed activity means buyers might have more leverage, though. And, in popular neighborhoods, homes continue to sell.

“There’s more negotiating happening,” said Sarah Anderson, a real estate agent and past president of the Howard County Association of Realtors. “Instead of looking at one house, one time, they have the luxury of a second showing.”

The Banner asked readers what’s stopping them from buying or selling their homes right now. Below are a few of their responses.

Retiree reluctance

After 34 years in their three-bedroom, single-family house in Ellicott City, David and Pat Vorel said they’re in no rush to make a new home someplace else.

They know that mindset contributes to a tough real estate market.

The couple bought their rancher-style home of more than 2,100 square feet in 1992 with a roughly 8.5% mortgage interest rate — a steal compared with the rate they took out on their first home loan, which they financed for about 15% and refinanced at 12.75%.

The Vorels raised their kids on a tree-lined street in the Dunloggin neighborhood. The children, now grown, attended Howard County Public Schools, and the family has formed strong bonds with their neighbors.

David Vorel, a retired controller, has run the numbers. Buying a new house in the area would almost certainly cost them more per month than their mortgage-free home.

“It’s a nice, family place, if you can afford it,” he said. “We were lucky. I hate to say it, but I don’t know how I would ever buy a house today.”

The Vorel children are buying places of their own, and their parents have empathy for how this generation is scrimping and saving to have the same opportunities they once did.

“Back then, the prices of houses relative to our salaries were not as large as they are now,” he said. “People’s salaries have not kept up with that rate.”

Near Annapolis, Jerri Kamicker finds herself in a similar boat. She and her husband probably could not have afforded their same house in today’s economy, and neither could their two grown children.

Kamicker, who is set to retire next month, is eager to move out of their four-bedroom, 2,500-square-foot house — but she feels stuck.

“It’s just too much upkeep, too much space,” Kamicker, a grants researcher and writer, said. “But we don’t have anywhere to go.”

It’s relatively easy to find a mansion or luxury townhome in her area, but Kamicker said she has struggled to locate a smaller, more manageable house without the burden of stairs.

For now, she can’t imagine herself living too far from where she is now or in a retirement community. She feels neighborhoods should have a mix of age, experience and diversity to contribute to an exchange of ideas.

She’s learning that, in her beloved Anne Arundel County, that may prove tough to find.

When two salaries aren’t enough

Mercy Rufai checks the Zillow listing almost every day and allows herself to fantasize about what could be: bedrooms for each of her two children. A school district she trusts. A backyard to enjoy.

Her dream house in Catonsville hit the market in July for $575,000, more than double what it sold for less than a year prior. Since then, the listing says, it has received a new HVAC system and water heater, updated bathrooms and a fresh roof.

Now it’s listed as a pending sale.

A coordinator of community services for people with disabilities, Rufai said she doesn’t think she could afford to buy a house with one income. Instead, she and a friend, a Southwest Airlines provisions agent with a child of his own, have plans to go in on a place together. Combined, they would need about $30,000 to afford a down payment for a home in the roughly $385,000 budget they’ve set for themselves.

“Unless you’re rolling in money, it seems like the best way to support each other,” said Rufai, who grew up in Nigeria and feels drawn to communal living.

The duo wanted the home on Wade Avenue in Catonsville and felt gutted that they couldn’t be the ones to buy it. Now, with interest rates rising again, they’re likely to put the search on hold.

“I don’t have $500,000 just laying around somewhere,” she said. “I don’t think the average American does.”

The cost of childcare

It’s been a few years since Taylor Pessin’s daughter started kindergarten, but the cost of childcare continues to sting.

A solo parent, Pessin spent the majority of her paycheck in those early years on daycare: at least $1,500-$2,000 a month. When her daughter, now 9, started public school, the payments didn’t completely stop. Before-and-after care programs, ranging from $200-$475 a month, have added insult to injury.

Childcare “just kind of set me up for financial distress for years and years to come,” Pessin said.

A desire to stay in the Lutherville-Timonium school district has made homebuying feel like something of a pipe dream. She estimates a house would cost her $600-$700 more a month than her current rental apartment.

Pessin considered buying an apartment or condo unit but thought twice about it after weighing the potential stress of homeowners association or condo fees. She wants policymakers to come up with solutions: smaller, less expensive housing; increased investment in school quality statewide; and additional support for working parents.

“The vast majority of us are in a position where we really can’t save,” Pessin said.